Stormlight - Slashdot User

Submission + - NSA Posts Opening For 'Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer' (thehill.com)

Submitted by cold fjord on Monday September 23, 2013 @12:37AM

cold fjord writes: The Hill reports, "The National Security Agency has posted a job opening for a privacy and civil liberties officer. The position was first mentioned last month, when President Obama outlined his plans to bring more transparency to the NSA surveillance programs. A White House press release said the agency was “taking steps to put in place a full time Civil Liberties and Privacy Officer.”" — From the NSA job posting: "The NSA Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer (CLPO) is conceived as a completely new role, combining the separate responsibilities of NSA's existing Civil Liberties and Privacy (CL/P) protection programs under a single official. The CLPO will serve as the primary advisor to the Director of NSA for ensuring that privacy is protected and civil liberties are maintained by all of NSA's missions, programs, policies and technologies. This new position is focused on the future, designed to directly enhance decision making and to ensure that CL/P protections continue to be baked into NSA's future operations, technologies, tradecraft, and policies. The NSA CLPO will consult regularly with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence CLPO, privacy and civil liberties officials from the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, as well as other U.S. government, private sector, public advocacy groups and foreign partners. "

Submission + - Fake Mt. Gox Pages Aim to Infect Bitcoin Users

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 06, 2013 @06:32AM

An anonymous reader writes: Mt. Gox is the the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, and as such it and its users are being repeatedly targeted by attackers. Some two months ago, it battled a massive DDoS attack that was likely aimed at destabilizing the virtual currency and allow the criminals to profit from the swings. Now, according to Symantec researchers, the criminals have turned to spoofing Mt. Gox' site and tricking its customers into downloading malware — the Ponik downloader Trojan, which is also able to steal passwords.

Submission + - Report Highlights 10 Sites Unfairly Blocked by UK Mobile Internet Censorship (ispreview.co.uk)

Submitted by

Mark.JUK

on Monday May 14, 2012 @10:26AM

Mark.JUK writes: "The Open Rights Group (ORG), which works to raise awareness of digital rights and civil liberties issues, has published a new report that examines the impact of internet censorship on UK mobile networks and lists an example of 10 legitimate websites that often get unfairly blocked by adult content filters (over-blocking). The study is important because similar measures could soon be forced upon fixed line broadband ISP subscribers by the government. Some of the allegedly unfair blocks include censorship of the 'Tor' system, a privacy tool used by activists and campaigners across the globe, and the website of French ‘digital rights’ advocacy group 'La Quadrature du Net'."

Comment Re:And in other news (Score 3, Funny) 166

by Stormlight on Thursday May 03, 2012 @05:34AM (#39876803) Attached to: German Science Minister Faces Plagiarism Scandal

Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek.

Kimono

Submission + - Australia's largest police force accused of widespread piracy (abc.net.au)

Submitted by beaverdownunder on Tuesday April 24, 2012 @07:50AM

beaverdownunder writes: UK software giant Micro Focus is demanding at least $10 million dollars in damages from the New South Wales police for widespread use of unlicensed copies of its ViewNow software it is alleged were used by members to access the COPS criminal intelligence database.

Although other government organisations also alleged to have mis-used the software have settled with Micro Focus, the NSW police refuse to do so, instead seeking to fight out a battle in Federal court.

Submission + - Telcos Oppose Bill To Respect 4th Amendment (techdirt.com) 1

Submitted by

Fluffeh

on Monday April 23, 2012 @06:21PM

Fluffeh writes: "A story that is breaking on a number of sites is that CTIA (The mobile operators' industry association) is opposing a Californian law being proposed that a court order is required prior to disclosing personal information. The law seems to be in opposition to the federal governments attempts to wash away the last requirements to get at any information about citizens, but CTIA claims (PDF) "... the wireless industry opposes SB 1434 as it could create greater confusion for wireless providers when responding to legitimate law enforcement requests " The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California have been arguing strongly for the bill which is to be voted on shortly."

Submission + - Viewpoint: V for Vendetta and the rise of Anonymous (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by tmcb on Friday February 10, 2012 @05:10AM

tmcb writes: On Saturday protests are planned across the world against Acta — the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The treaty has become the focus of activists associated with the Anonymous hacking network because of concerns that it could undermine internet privacy and aid censorship. First published in 1982, the comic series V for Vendetta charted a masked vigilante's attempt to bring down a fascist British government and its complicit media. Many of the demonstrators are expected to wear masks based on the book's central character. Ahead of the protests, the BBC asked V for Vendetta's writer, Alan Moore, for his thoughts on how his creation had become an inspiration and identity to Anonymous.

Submission + - 1903: Marconi hacked (newscientist.com)

Submitted by nbauman on Wednesday December 28, 2011 @12:40AM

nbauman writes: In June 1903, Gugliemo Marconi and his partner Ambrose Flemming were about to give the first demonstration of long-range wireless communication at the Royal Institution in London, which, Marconi said, could be sent in complete confidentiality with no fear of the messages being hijacked. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a huge mysterious wireless pulse strong enough to take over the carbon-arc projector and make it sputter messages in morse code. First, it repeated the word "Rats" over and over again (abusive at that time). Then it tapped out, "There was a young fellow of Italy, who diddled the public quite prettily." Further rude epithets followed. It was Nevil Maskelyne, a stage musician and inventor who was annoyed because Marconi's patents prevented him from using wireless. It was the first hacking, to demonstrate an insecure system.

Submission + - House Panel To Move Forward On Piracy Bill (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by

itwbennett

on Monday December 12, 2011 @10:49PM

itwbennett writes: "The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a debate and vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) for later this week. Representative Lamar Smith, the committee chairman and main sponsor of the bill, will offer an amendment that is meant to address some concerns with the bill. Smith's proposed amendment would clarify that the bill applies only to foreign websites, not U.S. sites, accused of aiding copyright infringement. The amendment takes away language requiring Internet service providers, search engines and other services to redirect Web users who try to access a foreign site accused of infringing copyright."

Submission + - HP Delays WebOS Decision (itworld.com)

Submitted by

itwbennett

on Wednesday November 09, 2011 @09:44AM

itwbennett writes: "Following Tuesday's report that HP is looking to sell WebOS, CEO Meg Whitman and HP employees gathered for a late-afternoon meeting. According to The Verge, Whitman told those gathered at the meeting 'It's really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision,' adding that a decision would come in the next three to four weeks."

Journal Journal: Hypersonic Travel

Journal by smitty777 on Monday December 14, 2009 @09:50AM

It would seem that hypersonic travel is here to stay...finally. Most define hypersonic as travel above Mach 5. Michael Cooney reports that the good ol USAF is now preparing to launch a scramjet test platform designed to reach speeds of Mach 6+. This is fairly significant; while the last testbed reached these speeds a few secon

Submission + - Building a Global Cyber Police Force (channelinsider.com)

Submitted by dasButcher on Monday December 14, 2009 @09:35AM

dasButcher writes: One of the biggest obstacles to fighting hackers and cybercriminals is that many operate in the safe harbors of their home countries, insulated from prosecution by authoritizes in foreign countries where their targets reside. As Larry Walsh writes in his blog, several security vendors and a growing number of countries are now beginning to consider the creation of a global police force that would have trans-border jurisdiction to investigate and arrest suspected hackers.

Submission + - Is console gaming dying? (bit-tech.net) 1

Submitted by mr_sifter on Monday December 14, 2009 @04:16AM

mr_sifter writes: PC gamers love to obsess over whether PC gaming is dying, but bit-tech thinks it's time to look at the other side and examine if console gaming is really as secure as publishers would have us believe. All three console manufacturers suffered from the recession — this year, Sony announced its first net loss in 14 years; a stunning ¥989.9bn, which includes record losses of ¥58.5bn in its gaming sector. Microsoft also announced its first loss since it went public in 1986 in the second quarter of this financial year, with a $31 million US loss coming straight from the Entertainment and Devices division – i.e those responsible for the Xbox 360. Not even Nintendo has escaped the financial plague either, with sales of the Wii dropping by 67 percent in the US, 60 percent in Japan and 47 percent in the rest of the world. In addition to reduced profitability, casual games and the rise of the iPhone further suggest the current model is on its last legs.

Submission + - Scientology a 'criminal organisation' (abc.net.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 17, 2009 @06:21PM

An anonymous reader writes: Australian senator describes Scientology as a criminal organisation in a speech to parliament, saying they should be investigated by the police.

Heart of the Milky Way Photos From NASA 111

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday November 11, 2009 @01:00PM from the do-you-need-newer-desktop-art dept.

PBH submitted a link to a really amazing composite image of the Milky Way released by NASA. They combined infrared, visible, and x-ray images taken by Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra to create one beautiful image to commemorate the 400 years since 1609, when Galileo looked up.

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